Label tab for document files



June 1, 1954 J. E. ADDISON LABEL TAB FOR DOCUMENT FILES 2 SheeisSheet 1 Filed Oct. 15, 1951 In uentor JWMES EWEO flap/50M Attorney n 1954 J. E. ADDISON LABEL TAB FOR DOCUMENT FILES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 15, 1951 A ltorney Patented June 1, 1954 James Edward Addison assignor to The Shan England New. .Malden, England, non Limited, New Malden,

Application october 15, 1951; Serial No. 251,268

Claims prioritsnapplication Great Britain October 16, 1950 6 Claims. (01. 129-16.7)

"File folders and-similar articles of oflice equipment, e. g. index cards or guides in card indexes, are commonly provided with label holding tabs, and to provide a mounting for a tab the folder or the like usually has a rigid" bar along one edge, which as a rule is an upper edge or the only upper edge. In so-called suspended filing systems this bar may also serve as a suspension bar. Hitherto inpractice the tabs have been pushed'downwards over the bar to grip it frictionally and therefore have not been securely heldin place, although various proposalshave been made for causing a tab to grip a bar resiliently. These proposals, however, have involved the bending of tongues or the like out of metal tabs, with the result that mass production-of the tabs has been difiicult.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a label-holding tab which is particularly simple to manufacture.

tab which is formed of a single piece of transparent material.

It is a further object to provide a label-holding tab which has a uniform cross-section throughout its length and is thus readily formed byextrusion or by folding sheet material.

Yet another object is to provide a novel combination of bar and label-holding tab in which It is another object to provide a label-holding the tab is slidable on the bar but cannot be re-.

moved in a direction at right-angles thereto.

In my invention a tab is made of the same cross-section throughout its length. This enables the tab to be made by folding and bending sheet material; it is, however, a particular advantage that the tab can be made in one piece by extrusion of a transparent plastic into lengths of the desired cross-section and cutting these lengths into shorter lengths each constituting a one-piece tab. .If desired, however, a onepiece tab may also be made by injection or compression moulding.

The tab .is formed with two limbs between which a paper or like label is held and with two legs which co-operate with the bar on which the tab is mounted to hold the tabv in place. This bar, which may be made of metal, a plastic, compressed fibre or any other suitable rigid material is of inverted U-shape in section to. receive and gri theupper edge of the file folder or other article, and one or both of its edges is or,

are cranked away from the face or faces of the article. isorare turned-inwards to hook rounda cranked edge of. the bar. One-leg or each leg maybev constituted by part of a limb.

One or both of the. legs of the. tab.

The invention will be more fully explained by reference to the annexed drawings, which show various embodiments. In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of part of a file folder and bar with the tab upon it;

' Figure 2 is a section on a larger scale through the folder, bar and tab shown'in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section through a second construction;

Figure 4 shows the'construction of Figure 3 with one limb of the tab'in different positions;

Figure 5 is a front View of the construction shown in Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a section through a third construc- Figure 1 shows the upper part 2 of one leaf:

of a file folder of the kind suspended by bars which run on rails. One of the bars is adapted to carry a-tab, shown generally at I3, and this bar is shown at 6 and has hooked ends. 8 to run on the rails, which are not shown.

In this construction the bar is made by bending a strip of sheet metal into inverted U-section with free edges I0 and 12 which are cranked awayv from the faces of the leaf 2. The'upper edge of the leaf 2 is firmly gripped by the upper part 4 of the bar, which may be crimped to hold the leaf in position.

The tab I3. is made of a sheetof transparent.

cellulose acetate and is the construction preferred when sheet material is used. This sheet is bent about a line I8 to form two limbs l4 and.

downwards over the opposite faces of the upper part 6 of the bar are produced. The leg 27 continues downwards and is turned inwards atthe bottom to form a hook 26 which engagesbeneath and behind the free edge I ll of the bar.

This shape of tab can also be formed by.ex-;

trusion.

In-order to insert or withdraw the labelr28 from' thespace between the limbs i4 aud ilfi,

the upper edge of the tab may be engaged by a finger and pulled forwards into the position shown in chain lines at 29 in Figure 2 in which the limbs cease to grip the label frictionally. When the upper edge of hte tab is released again it springs back to the position in full lines.

Figures 3 to show the preferred form of tab made by extrusion of transparent cellulose acetate. As before there is a bar 4 which grips the upper edge of a folder leaf 2, but only the front edge I2 is cranked away from the leaf, the other free edge l5 being in contact with the rear face of the leaf. The tab consists of a main rear limb and a thinner front limb 31, the two limbs springing from a bottom part 32 which is formed with a hook 33 engaging beneath and behind the free edge I2 of the bar. In this case one of the two legs engaging the face of the bar is constituted by part of the limb 36 and the other is formed by a piece 33 which projects rearwards and downwards from the middle of the limb 39. The top of the limb 3B is formed as a hook 3t underneath which the upper edge of the limb 3i engages so as to leave a space between the two limbs for the reception of a label. When this tab is extruded the limb 3i lies well away from the limb 38 as shown in chain-lines in Figure 4, and it will be seen that with the limb 35 in this position a label can very readily be inserted from above instead of from one side, as in the tab shown in Figures 1 and 2. After the label has been inserted the limb 3! is pushed rearwardly passing through the position shown in full-lines in Figure 4 until its tip is caught under the hook 34 and it is itself firmly held in position and also holds the label.

The forward face of the bar 4 is made Ivith a shallow groove 35 interrupted by cross ribs 31, as shown in Figure 5, and the rear face of the lower part of the limb 39 is formed with a complementary rib 33 which extends over the whole length of the tab. It will readily be seen from Figure 5 that the rib 38 can fit between any desired pair of cross ribs 37 so that the tab can be located in different positions along the bar and held frictionally in the desired position.

Figure 6 shows another tab which can advantageously be made by extrusion and which in many respects resembles that shown in Figures 3 to 5. Here the two limbs it and ii between which the label is gripped are united at the top, as shown at 52, and the front limb M is formed at the bottom with a hook 43 which engages beneath and behind the free edge i2 of the bar. The front leg in this case is constituted by the bottom of the rear limb l6 and the rear leg by a piece "it resembling the piece 33 but extending downwards with a curved part 45 which engages a complementary ridge 36 made in the rear face of the bar '15. This inter-engagement of the curved part 45 and ridge A helps in holding the tab firmly on the bar, but it will be understood if desired the rear leg may be only of the same depth as the front leg.

In all the constructions so far described the space between the two limbs extends over substantially the whole depth of the tab. This is advantageous since this full depth may be used as a label holder and accordingly the label may be deeper than has been usual hitherto and so may carry either more information or the same information in larger characters.

Figure '7 shows a construction in which the full depth of the tab is not available for the label. This tab is also made of transparent sheet and 4 the two limbs T6 and Ti lie entirely above the legs 12 and 13 and are cemented or stitched together over the whole length of the tab as shown at 14. The bar 4 is identical with that shown in Figure 1 and the lower ends of the legs 72 and I3 hook under its free edges. v

All the tabs so far described in detail can be formed of a single piece of material, although if desired they may be of two or more pieces united together.

Figure 8 shows a construction in which the front limb of the tab is detachable. The tab resembles that shown in Figures 3 to 5, but in place of the front limb 35 there is a front limb 50 in the form of a rectangle of transparent sheet material. The remainder of the tab need not be transparent, and the rear limb 52 is formed with hooked upper and lower edges 56 and 56 between which the front limb 58 may he slid or snapped in place. As an alternative the front limb may have hooked edges which engage over plain edges of the rear limb.

It may be convenient to use a tab as a handle by which to lift the article to which it is attached. An improved grip may be provided by the addition of horizontal ribs to the back of the rear limb of the tab.

Tabs constructed according to the present invention cannot be removed from a bar without force, except by sliding off the end, and the engagement of the tab with the bar ensures that the tab is guided to slide along the bar and at the same time is restrained by sufficient friction to prevent accidental displacement.

The invention is of particular value when applied to file folders for use in suspended filing systems or to other articles arranged one close behind another, since 1e tabs on adjacent files or other articles can be moved along their bars into staggered relationship so as to be readily visible.

I claim:

1. in an article of office equipment including a piece of card-like material, the combination of a bar adapted to grip an upper edge of said material, and a tab adapted to slide along said bar, said bar being of strip folded longitudinally about said edge of material to provide twoparallel parts between which said material is gripped, lower edge of at least one 01" said parts being outwardly displaced from said material, said tab being of a single piece of transparent material of unbforn'i cross-section throughout its length and comprising a rear limb extending from a level above the fold of said bar to a level below said fold and lying in front of the front. face of said bar, a front limb extending fromthe level of the top of said rear limb to the level of the lower edges of said bar, said front limb lying close to said rear limb and defining with said rear limb a narrow space for a label of substantialiy the full depth of said front limb,v and a rear leg extending from said rear limb over the fold of said bar and down the rear face of said bar, one at least of said front limb, rear limb and rear leg being formed at the lower edge thereof with a hook to engage round an out wardly displaced lower edge of said oar.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein both lower edges of said bar are outwardly displaced and both said front limb and said rear leg of said tab are formed at the lower edge thereof with a hook.

3. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein said rear leg extends upwardly from the bottom of said rear limb against the front face of said bar and then turns over the fold of said bar and extends down the rear face of said bar.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 1 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS wherein said front limb and said rear limb of 5 i gg g said tab are united at their tops. 2125264 5. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein 2357070 the lower edge of the front part of said bar is 2 6 outwardly displaced and the rear part of said 2513127 bar is formed with a longitudinal rib and wherein 0 2526950 the lower edge of said front limb of said tab is 2538361 formed with a hook and said rear leg of said tab is formed with a channel adapted to cooperate with said rib. Number 6. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein 10 172 090 said front limb and said rear limb of said tab 253:022

are united at the bottom thereof and hook means are formed on said tab for detachably connecting the tops of said front limb and rear limb.

Name Date Dodge Nov. 24, 1925 Aigner Aug. 2, 1938 Bates Aug. 29, 1944 Aigner Aug. 30, 1949 Wolters June 27, 1950 Jones Oct. 24, 1950 Furrer Jan. 16, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Switzerland 1934 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1948 

